Toll collection stations are normally positioned along roadways to collect a fee for passage over such roadways. Traffic generally accumulates along toll roadways adjacent to toll collection stations, especially during rush hour conditions.
To remedy traffic accumulation, many tollroad agencies reconfigure toll collection stations to accept prepaid tolls. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,941 to Dwyer et al. discloses a cashless toll system that uses transponders to detect and track prepaid customers, and cameras to detect and track casual or non-transponder equipped customers. The system also includes a revenue management system that communicates with a bank/credit card clearing house to debit the cost of a toll from a prepaid user's account.
Prepaid toll systems may include dedicated toll lanes to allow prepaid users to pass through the toll collection stations without stopping to pay the toll. In other words, the toll may be automatically deducted from a prepaid user's account. This is accomplished by communications between an antenna at the toll collection station and a prepaid transponder positioned on the vehicle, as disclosed, for example, in the Dwyer et al. '941 patent.
Unfortunately, some vehicles are not equipped with prepaid transponders, and users of those vehicles may attempt to evade payment of the requisite toll by passing through lanes dedicated to prepaid toll users. Accordingly, some tollroad authorities have installed gates at the dedicated prepaid lanes that rise upon sensing the presence of a prepaid transponder. These gates, however, tend to slow the flow of traffic. Further, some users may choose to drive their vehicles through the gates, causing damage to both their vehicle and the gate.
There have been attempts to provide an incentive to users to pay the toll instead of evading the toll, besides the issuance of a traffic citation for not paying the toll. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,521 to Rossides discloses a system for betting between a buyer and a seller. The bets may be used to speed up movement of a line. The system discloses that a user may choose to bet at a tollbooth for a chance to pass through the tollbooth without paying. This system, however, may be disadvantageous because the payment required by a losing user may be quite high, i.e., several multiples of the actual price of the toll.
Other tollroad agencies have allowed for the sale of goods at tollbooths. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,316 to Khan et al. discloses a method for automated retailing of refreshments to a vehicle occupant as the vehicle passes through a toll station. U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,956, also to Khan et al., discloses that a tollbooth may be configured to provide for drive through purchasing and dispensing of other consumer goods.